Civic Location Data eXchange Format (CLDXF) Michael Gurley GIS Coordinator Oregon Office of Emergency Management

Purposes of CLDXF  Support the exchange of address data by providing “definitive set of core civic location data elements”  Ensure portability of address data  Permit efficient design of software systems  Meet functional needs of call-routing and dispatch  Does not include all elements needed for local address data management  No address ID, no metadata, no data quality checks

Purposes of CLDXF  Map a profile between IETF (internet engineering task force) PIDF-LO and NENA PIDF - Presence Information Data Format  “hello, it’s me and I’m waiting for an answer” LO - Location Object  “this is exactly where I am”  coordinate location or civic address  CLDXF is the United States profile of IETF PIDF-LO, and it uses the PIDF-LO XML (Extensible Markup Language) schema, extended to include US-specific elements

Purposes of CLDXF  Map elements to FGDC address standard FGDC - Federal Geographic Data Committee United States Thoroughfare, Landmark, & Postal Address Data Standard  Sponsored by NENA and URISA, managed by Census  Over 10 years in development  More complex than CLDXF  Provide illustrative examples of parsing  There’s a lot of weird addresses out there!!

Why address standard is so important  A standard allows for automated matching between many different address lists & mapping sources  ALI database (9-1-1) may not provide a complete list Field data collection Local updates Commercial data provider Voter List Utilities ALI DB Tax List US Census Local Parcels address standard tabular geographic

How is CLDXF different from other standards?  No abbreviations  except State and Country  More levels of geography  Municipalities, communities, neighborhoods  Boundaries matter!  Complete parsing of street names  Fixes deficiencies in existing telco and USPS formats

How is CLDXF different?  Covers all possible numbering schemes  Number prefix, number, number suffix  Provides structure for subaddress information  Supports precision in address down to room & seat

CLDXF contents  S1: executive overview  S2: introduction  S3: civic location address data elements  S4: NENA registry system consideration  S5: references  S6: previous acknowledgements  A: FGDC-NENA profile  B: cross-ref of CLDXF-PIDFLO-FGDC elements  C: examples of address parsing

CLDXF element description  CLDXF name and PIDF-LO name  Definition  Definition source  Examples  Data type  Domain of values  Mandatory/Conditional/Optional  Minimum, maximum number of occurrences  Notes

CLDXF element groups  Country, State, and Place Name  Street Name  Address Number  Landmark Name  Subaddress  Address Descriptor

Country, State, and Place Names The easy ones – large geographies, well- defined legal status  Country Name / Country – mandatory  two-letter ISO code  State Name / State – mandatory  two-letter USPS code  Place Name / County - mandatory  The name of county or county-equivalent where the address is located.

Addresses and boundaries  “…where the address is located.” All these structures are located in Cambridge but addressed in Belmont. You can’t list an address for Grove Street in Cambridge – because this Grove Street is not in Cambridge and there very well might be another Grove Street that is CAMBRIDGE BELMONT Grove Street

Addresses and boundaries  “…where the address is located.” In which municipality is this address located?

Parts of Street Name  Street Name Pre Modifier  Street Name Pre Directional  Street Name Pre Type  Street Name Pre Type Separator  Street Name  Street Name Post Type  Street Name Post Directional  Street Name Post Modifier

Familiar elements  No abbreviations  Example: “N JOHNSON TR” Is it “NORTH JOHNSON TRAIL” or “NEIL JOHNSON TERRACE”  Domains for Pre/Post Types at

A Few Twists on Familiar Elements  Two types  Multiword types  Local Knowledge Required

Not-so-familiar elements  Modifiers  Separated from name, not a type word or phrase  Separated from name, before or after directional

Not-so-familiar elements (continued)  Street Name Pre Type Separator  Added to match FGDC Separator Element  Preposition or prepositional phrase that “separates” pre type from name  ‘northbound’ and ‘southbound’ modifiers

Address Number  What is an address number?  Ideally, the number part indicates a location in sequence along a road, respecting parity  At a minimum, the full address number uniquely identifies one of the following  a site or a group of structures  a single structure  a part of a structure  or some other location like an undeveloped parcel with reference to a named street

Address Number – further thoughts  Unfortunately, address numbers are often used to encode other kinds of information:  Sector  Cross street or block  Building, Floor, Unit Decoding the pattern may be useful  Splitting the full number into prefix, number and suffix should preserve the sequence information, if any  Zero should NOT be used to indicate no address number

Weirdo numbering  sample number parsing – odd cases

Weirdo numbering  “0”: In Portland, OR, negative Address Numbers have been assigned in an area along the west bank of the Willamette River. By local practice, the minus sign is represented as a leading zero. ("0123 South Whitaker" and "123 South Whitaker" would be two completely different addresses). The leading zero must be treated as an Address Number Prefix.

Landmarks and landmark parts  Landmark: “Name by which a prominent feature is publicly known”  Landmark part added by CLDXF as extension of PIDF-LO. Usually involves a geographic hierarchy.  Landmark part is a repeating tag, so doesn’t neatly translate to fields  Order is not specified, (e.g. smallest -> largest) parts concatenated with spaces

One way to manage landmark parts  If you are managing “sites” as a separate geographic layer, with sub-sites and named buildings mapped:  When is a something “a prominent feature, publicly known”?  When is something a building and when is it a landmark?  Note: a landmark is a complete, valid address

Subaddress elements  In USPS or ALI database, typically unstructured info  CLDXF provides hierarchy of building, floor, unit  FGDC allows for flexibility in typing subaddress components; CLDXF suggests type word included

Subaddress examples

Subaddress issues  Not always clear what goes into “building” v. “landmark”  “generic” identifiers, like numbers or letters, go into building field, whereas names go into landmark field, but “publicly known?”  Many ways “building,” “floor” or “unit” can be represented or abbreviated in inputs  Identifiers can be encoded into unit field – this may be an area for content standards  “#5” “Apt. 5” “Unit 5” “No. 5” all refer to Unit 5  “7B” “A-5C” “B12” all contain reference to building or floor as well as unit

One last element  Not part of the address, but an attribute  IETF Location Types Registry (user community maintained): airportA place from which aircraft operate, such as an airport or heliport. arenaEnclosed area used for sports events. bankBusiness establishment in which money is kept for saving or commercial purposes or is invested, supplied for loans, or exchanged. barA bar or saloon.

Civic Location Data eXchange Format (CLDXF)